Ferry of Devotion - selections and additions on the crossing sensation

EPIGRAPH



This conjures a somewhat ethereal vista - one side of the valley with Radha Krishna as psychological archetype and on the other, Radha Krishna as palpable divinity. Dividing this valley is the river. I call this river EROS and the "theological leap" its crossing. But ......

Is the crossing a leap
Or does a ferry ply
the dividing stream ?

Boy, that's quite a resurrection, Talasiga. Good topic though. And how much better here than there, where one has to wade through so much mud to find the worthwhile. I am glad to see that your deep concerns are still alive and well, and also your attempt to make me finish a long unfinished thought.

That thread is also a good example of what could perhaps be transferred here, as several of the more thoughtful participants have already made the move (Vishvatma is here as Adiyen). Would you like to perhaps do the work of summarizing the essence of that discussion in this thread? I notice (quickly) that you expressed the above idea there also, though in perhaps a slightly different context: "Yes, Eros is the RUBICON for our spiritual maturity in the field of relationships."

The trouble is, you're asking me to THINK. And I only get so many minutes of thinking per day. And look (I noticed after writing the previous sentence), I was making the same excuses then: "Please excuse me for not going into this with more depth of thought. I am really overburdened at the moment."

Perhaps you could explain a little more what you mean by Eros. I was just quoting Naomi Goldenberg in another thread. One comment I skipped over, no doubt because it was not a complete sentence, was: "Eros = ability to make connections; Logos = analysis." Or, put another way, Eros means the ensemble of feminine characteristics, Logos the masculine.

Which seems quite applicable, and which I would agree with. "Leaping" seems quite masculine, but in fact I think when Kierkegaard used it, he was in fact thinking of something more akin to falling, like a Buddhist falls into nothingness.

Perhaps you should add the possibility that one has to swim across, in other words, immerse oneself in the river. But the image of the ferry makes me think of Sri Guru.

Maybe it's enough
to just sprinkle drops
of water on your forehead.

With water enough
But the ferry is not
So easily sprinkled .....

The ferry of devotion
finds Radha waiting
at every shore

I had exactly the same thought, on both accounts.

I like this thread and its mood. And I like the poetic expression. I've also felt so overburdened that I've found it hard to think like this, and to write poetry, for some time. Thank you both.

I called the river Eros
for it can nourish
yet divide and drown

So like the Charyas
in their songs, you say:
"Dive in, but don't wet your hair"?

- The Ferry of My Gauranga -

- Locan Das Thakur

You like poetry and metaphors; I like Khalil Gibran

How I Became A Madman

You ask me how I became a madman. It happened thus: One day, long before many gods were born, I woke from a deep sleep and found all my masks were stolen -- the seven masks I have fashioned and worn in seven lives -- I ran maskless through the crowded streets shouting, "Thieves, thieves, the cursed thieves."

Men and women laughed at me and some ran to their houses in fear of me.
And when I reached the market place, a youth standing on a house-top cried, "He is a madman." I looked up to behold him; the sun kissed my own naked face for the first time. For the first time the sun kissed my own naked face and my soul was inflamed with love for the sun, and I wanted my masks no more. And as if in a trance I cried, "Blessed, blessed are the thieves who stole my masks."
Thus I became a madman.

And I have found both freedom and safety in my madness; the freedom of loneliness and the safety from being understood, for those who understand us enslave something in us.

But let me not be too proud of my safety. Even a Thief in a jail is safe from another thief.

K.G. 1883 - 1931

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalil_Gibran

I do not advise
but, rather, post captions
for pictures that I see .........

Only by her welcome does every shore become the destination .....

And all this time I thought the river was Radha and Shyam was the sea. And Radha is the ferry captain, to take us to the sea. Or perhaps we could swim or walk with Her. It's all the same to me.

Each is holy different
Yet one in their wholeness.
Let's sit by her feet .......

The Ferryman plies His vessel
from Devotion to Devotion
The traveller need have no goal
but to relish present Company.

If you don't know where you're going
Any road will take you there

There is a saying that all roads lead to Rome
And that may be true.
Anyway, I'm not headed for Rome,
So I'll walk along the river's edge.



The Ferryman is the vessel
Devotion and Devoted
Transportation and Goal
And the Company you keep on the way!

In Fourteen Hundred and Ninety-two
Three ships went out to sea
The Nina and the Pinta and the Santamary
But as they sailed the stormy sea in that historic day
Away up in the crowsnest
You could hear the watchman say:

"Please, o Mr. Columbus, turna the ship around,
take me back I want to feel my two feet on the ground
Why did you tella Izabella thata the world is round?
Please, o Mr. Columbus, turna the ship around"

So Chris got out his mandolin and he bagan to play
They played upon the deck indeed until the break of day
They ate up all the provolone they drank up all the wine
But still up in the crowsnest
You could hear the watchman whine:

"Please, o Mr. Columbus turna the ship around
Take me back I want to feel my two feet on the ground
Why did you tella Izabella thata the world is round?
Please, o Mr. Columbus, turna the ship around."

Was the watchman a Native American, perchance?

What do you think? I suspect we will need more than a translator to answer that question.

Hey cryptic girl! I'm done arguing now! Let's be friends.

Jaya Sri Krishna! (Radhe Radhe! )

Read my latest post in "Poems Not About Krishna: But Maybe They Are..." (post 38)

Talasiga especially, what do you think of the poem? Interesting ideas from T.S. Eliot...

http://www.gaudiyadiscussions.com/index.ph...t=30#entry26062


Excerpt:

Satyabhama, I have always liked TS Eliot but see little nexus between that poem and this topic. Please forgive me.
Yours truly,
TS.

We are talking about travel and destinations. I wondered whether you see any specific destination, or whether the traveling itself was important...

Never mind. I don't make much sense sometimes.

You may have not noticed this earlier aphorism




Perhaps we are talking about the plenitude of being in the company of travellers.
However please do not think that I speak of abstractions only. My posts are driven by pictures that I see. There is a river, a ferryman, pilgrims and a beautiful, shining sallow, sad eyed woman by the shore.

But my pictures cannot be your pictures. You have your own of similar ilk. On that one ferry each sees from their own unique perspective yet each feels one. Such is the plenitude of being. Infinite differentiation is the mark of divine plenitude.